Yemin Moshe: The Story of a Jerusalem Neighborhood (review)

78 SHOFAR Yemin Moshe: The Story of a Jerusalem Neighborhood, by Eliezer Yaffe. New York: Praeger, 1988. 176 pp. $37.95. This edition is the English translation of the Hebrew work by Yaffe which was published in Jerusalem in 1985 by Ariel. A distinctive aspect of Jerusalem-and especially Jewish Jerusalem outside the walls of the Old City-is the fact that it is a city which has been built spontaneously, neighborhood by neighborhood. The initial process of this construction began in the second half of the nineteenth century when the neighborhoods that were built differed one from the other, not only in their physical planning, but also in their unique socio-cultural character. Numerous books and papers have been written on the subject of the history of these neighborhoods, inasmuch as they typify the historical development of the Jewish community as a whole in Jerusalem in the modern period . Generally, these studies have been undertaken by historians and geographers . Yemin Moshe was one of these Jewish neighborhoods. Built in Jerusalem towards the end of the nineteenth century by a London-based foundation which took as its goal the perpetuation of the name of the wellknown Jewish philanthropist, Sir Moses Montefiore, Yemin Moshe in many aspects was not very different from other communities which were established both before and after it. Its uniqueness lay in that it served for 19 years, from 1948 to 1967, as a border enclave, literally on the frontier between Israel and Jordan. Its location also established its character in those years-a pocket of poverty. After the Six-Day War the locality changed its appearance entirely; and in a process that had its beginnings yet before the war, its original residents were displaced. The area passed through renovation and reconstruction and was repopulated by people of means. Today the neighborhood is considered one of the most exclusive in Jerusalem. The book under review is neither a systematic historical work nor a geographical one. There are many reasons why this book does not make any new contribution to historical investigation, one of which is its methodological shortcomings from the standpoint of historical research. The focus of this book (and this point should have been emphasized in some way in its title )-in dealing with the problem of the displacement of the initial inhabitants of the neighborhood and its repopulation-is on the ethical and social ramifications connected with this process. On this matter the author, who is a social worker by profession, carried out a wide-ranging investigation, the results of which are reported in the book (chapters 4-6). The author should have simply concentrated on these problems while foregoing the "historical" portion of the book. The correct approach would have been to portray the Volume 9. No.2 l-Vinter 1991 79 overall scheme of the Government offices in the sixties to evacuate the old neighborhoods of Jerusalem that were in a deplorably physical and social state and to transfer their populations to new neighborhoods. These rundown neighborhoods were then to be renovated-a plan"that was only partially successful. Yemin Moshe is an example of achievement only from the standpoint of the governmental institutions which initiated this program. The author generally carried out his work faithfully in the second half of the book in his analysis of the process of the evacuation, background, the institutions that initiated the program and their various motivations, and the fate of those tho were displaced. This is all placed amidst harsh criticism for the entire process itself. We must nevertheless note that the "Yemin Moshe model" of displacement and repopulation was never repeated. As a substitute, the Israeli government , in the early days of Menachem Begin's leadership, inaugurated a project for the restoration of neighborhoods, an arrangement diametrically opposite to the "Yemin Moshe model," which worked towards the physical and social renovation of problematic neighborhoods while leaving their original residents in place. The Yemin Moshe neighborhood is a fascinating area. Its history still awaits a more complete analysis, as this book does not provide the complete story that its title promises. Yossi Katz Department of Geography Bar IIan University Offense and Defense in Israeli Military Doctrine...